Speed of Darkness – Light from the Well

In the summer of 2011, the Saari Residence housed the Speed of Darkness – Light and Space workshop headed by visual artist Jaakko Niemelä. The workshop was intended for young visual artists from Latvia, Finland and Estonia and its theme was one of the most important elements of art: light.

Speed of Darkness was created at the Saari Well. Curator Eha Komissarov from Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn met Jaakko Niemelä during her stay at the Saari Residence in early spring 2010. Spatial art has a longer standing tradition in Finland than in the other Baltic countries and so Eha proposed a collaboration that would combine young artists and spatial art.

The next summer  recently graduated visual artists from Latvia, Finland and Estonia were chosen for the series of workshops headed by Niemelä in the Saari Residence. In 2012, the new space and light installations created by the group are on display at the Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova Museum of History and Contemporary Art in Turku and at Kumu Art Museum of Estonia in Tallinn.

– When the group first met each other at the Saari Residence, it immediately became clear that they had a good, positive vibe and team spirit. Speed of Darkness – Light and Space has been an atypical group exhibition from the start because all the artists involved have participated in the same workshop, exchanged ideas and followed each other’s progress from the very beginning, adds Niemelä.